Orissa and Jharkhand police have recovered about 550kg of explosives hidden in a pit six feet below the ground in the Saranda forest in Jharkhand, police told rediff.com on Monday.

Maoist Communist Centre activists had stolen the explosives from the Orissa-Jharkhand border in April, Superintendent of Police (Sundergarh district) Y K Jethwa said.

The explosives were recovered in the course of a joint operation by the police of both the states against the MCC on Saturday night, he said adding no arrest has been made as yet in this connection.